Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Sweet Baby Java. All opinions and the pie recipe are my own.
Welcome to the October edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Sweet Baby Java”, an espresso bean infused version of Sweet Baby Jesus.
Each month when I get my beer from DuClaw, my friend and I brainstorm ideas for the recipe. Last year when we got this beer, we went ended up making a soup. So, this year, we wanted to go back to our original plan of a dessert. Despite being based on Sweet Baby Jesus, this beer is more coffee and … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Mad Bishop Oktoberfest. All opinions and the schnitzel recipe are my own.
Welcome to the Augus edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Mad Bishop Oktoberfest", a traditional German Oktoberfest style beer. This style of beer is one of my favorites as it signals a move from the lighter summer beers towards the deeper darker beers that I enjoy most.
Unlike many of the beers I get to try from DuClaw, this one is pretty traditional and true to style and it always brings out the "traditionalist" in … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw All Along the Hop Tower . All opinions and the marinade recipe are my own.
Welcome to the July edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “All Along the Hop Tower”, a double IPA with a nice hop combination that is balanced by the higher alcohol.
This month was a little unusual. In addition to the beer, DuClaw sent me a marinade to try. I definitely wanted to check that out, but I also wanted to create a recipe, so my partner in crime suggested we use the marinade AND make one of our … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Sour Me This . All opinions and the cherry soup recipe are my own.
Welcome to the June edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Sour Me This”, a sour beer that starts sweet and ends with a pucker.
This is the third time I've received this beer from DuClaw, so it was really challenging to come up with something new. We did some brainstorming and we kept coming back to pairing it with fruit. But what kind? Last year we made a blueberry cheese cake and the year before we made granita. What new … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw The PastryArchy Blueberry Maple Imperial Stout . All opinions and the crisp recipe are my own.
Welcome to the May edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "The PastryArchy Blueberry Maple", a Russian imperial stout with blueberry and maple accents.
After months of lighter and hoppier beers, I was super excited to receive this beer. And it did.not.disappoint. I love a dark, sweet beer and the flavor of blueberry came through stronger than I expected. I seriously did not want to cook with this … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Gose O's. All opinions and the parfait recipe are my own.
Welcome to the April edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "DuClaw Gose O's", a gose beer with a slight sourness and a hint of cantaloupe and salt. I have to confess that it reminds me a bit of a jolly rancher (this is a good thing - sweet and tart at the same time.) My mine immediately jumped to summer picnics and jello salad. What? I'm from Wisconsin and I'm Lutheran. EVERYTHING is celebrated with a jello salad. But instead of creating … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Everything is Taken. All opinions and the kabob recipe are my own.
Welcome to the March edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "Everything is Taken", a light refreshing lager with the bonus of a lot of hoppiness. I'm not gonna lie - this is not a beer I would drink. I like my beers dark and sweet. But it was good for what it was and on a hot day, it would be a nice cold beer to have at a cookout. As Beer Geek would say, it's a good lawn mowing beer: light, refreshing, and best served ice cold. … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Enjoy Your Time Away. All opinions and the mussels recipe are my own.
Welcome to the February edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "Enjoy Your Time Away", a smooth IPA with a nice blend of hops. I'm not a hop head. I like my beers dark and sweet. But I approach every beer with an open mind and a willingness to be surprised. Unfortunately though, it's hard to cook with a straight up IPA. You have to be careful not to reduce it and bring out the bitter. Faced with that challenge, my … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Cargo Schwarz. All opinions and the waffle recipe are my own.
Welcome to the January edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "Cargo Schwarz", a schwarzbier or black lager. You all know I love a good dark beer and this beer gives me that toasted malty flavor without the heaviness or the high ABV. As per usual, we came up with some ideas and then a taste of the beer sent us in a totally different direction. With a sort of "biscuity" flavor with hints of chocolate and coffee, this beer just screamed … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Devil's Milk Barleywine. All opinions and the Chicken Cremini recipe are my own.
Welcome to the December edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "Devil's Milk Barleywine", `a hoppy barleywine that will warm you up quick with it's 10% ABV. I like barleywine's but they tend to be higher alcohol than I drink on a regular basis. This version was tasty, but had a bit more "hop bite" than I would usually choose. The hop flavor ruled out my original idea of some type of dessert. Instead, I decided to "hop … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw 865cc Coffee Stout. All opinions and the pecan pie recipe are my own.
Welcome to the October edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It's a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month's beer is "865cc Coffee Stout", a stout with an intense coffee flavor from the addition of cold steeped, Cafe Racer XXX 865cc coffee which is roasted in Baltimore, MD.
This is my second time getting this beer and I absolutely love it. Last year I made the most amazing sweet potatoes with it. In fact, my family insisted I bring them to Thanksgiving. This year, I'm playing … [Read more...]

Thank you DuClaw Brewing for sponsoring this post and sending me the DuClaw Never Tell Me The Odds. All opinions and the brownie recipe are my own.
Welcome to another edition of “Cooking with Beer”! Each month DuClaw Brewing sends me a beer and a friend and I create a recipe. It’s a fun time to think outside the box and try a new beer and new food. This month’s beer is “Never Tell Me The Odds”, a double IPA. This tasty beer comes in at 8% ABV and is a nice blend of hops and malt, resulting in a very drinkable beer. I happen to love the two hops that are used (Citra and Mosaic) and find that the higher alcohol of the double IPAs tend to add a nice sweetness to balance the bitter from the hops.
Since fall is here and … [Read more...]

Who is MCM Mama?
A slightly obnoxious mom and wife who loves good beer and running, who struggles a bit with depression especially in the winter and when running isn’t allowed, who’d rather go on a fun vacation than upgrade the kitchen or add a master bath.

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A slightly obnoxious mom and wife who loves good beer and running, who struggles a bit with depression especially in the winter and when running isn’t allowed, who’d rather go on a fun vacation than upgrade the kitchen or add a master bath. Read More…

Here we are, a crazy number of days into Virginia’s Stay at Home order. Today, the Northern Virginia area began Phase 1, which means more things will be open at reduced capacity and with masks required in establishments. To be honest, it’s not really going to change my behavior (we are super careful), including that […]